Nonprofits often turn to events to mix up their fundraising activities, engage supporters, and spread awareness of their mission. Auctions are among the most popular fundraising events because in addition to these benefits, they have the potential to bring in significant revenue for your organization.

Raffles are some of the most engaging and fun fundraisers out there. The chance of winning an appealing grand prize combined with the ability to support a good cause often attracts a wide audience, allowing your nonprofit to bring in significant fundraising revenue. Plus, they’re fairly simple to organize and can be paired with many other events and campaigns.

From GreaterGiving.com Procuring auction items is hard work! Follow these tips to save time and procure items that will make you the most money. When you start procuring auction items, do you: A) Send out a general call to your school, church, or supporter network for general donations? B) Reach out to local businesses and ask for specific types of donations? C) Focus on in-demand items and request only those? Many organizations answer this question with A)—and end up with a silent auction that feels more like a garage sale. With B) and C), you save yourself and your auction committee time by collecting fewer items, making fewer packages, and putting only the best out on the auction tables.

Winston & Winnie slacking by the pool. By Alyce Lee Stansbury on tallahassee.com It’s summertime and the living is easy — or so it used to be. Early in my fundraising career, I looked forward to summer because the fundraising work slowed down and I had time to reflect, evaluate, organize and plan. Those days are over. Fundraising has become a steady 12-month blur of events and campaigns. Today, all the nonprofits I know are actively fundraising on a year-round basis. That said, summer is still a good time to position your nonprofit for greater fundraising success. Here are a few suggestions.

By Gail Perry MBA CFRE on her blog Fired Up Fundraising Gail is a consultant, speaker, author and coach for nonprofit leaders Where do you look for potential donors? Here are some shortcuts to help you identify the right donor prospects who can take your cause to the next level. 1. If you need funding, go to your current donors first. They have already invested in you. They are “pre-sold” on your organization and on your cause so to speak. They’ve already voted with their money that they believe in you. Work for deeper relationships with these existing donors, and you’ll be more successful.

When it’s your job to come up with a clever way to raise copious amounts of money for your Nonprofit, it can become a daunting task very quickly if you’re stuck without the right fundraising auction ideas. It’s important to remember that above all, excited donors spend more money. So how do you get your donors excited? By offering exciting and unique no-risk auction items at your event. Whether you’re having an auction or raffle, finding a Nonprofit fundraising idea can be as simple as picking a theme. Luckily, almost any theme imaginable can be tied to a trip or experience of some kind. Casino Night? How about offering a trip to Vegas. Or for a more romantic ambiance, consider a trip to Paris. Many of the event organizers we work with actually form their charity fundraising theme around a unique experience we have available. Our team of professional Event Consultants has worked with countless Nonprofits around the United States and Canada to help them create the most successful charity fundraisers possible. They’ve just about seen it all and their experience has shown them what works and what doesn’t. When it comes to helping a Nonprofit find the best idea for raising money from their audience, your Event Consultant will draw upon their expertise with your target demographic, event type and attendance size.

Finding charity auction items that will bring in substantial sums of money for a charity event can be a challenging endeavor. Many event organizers simply cross their fingers and hope their legion of supporters will donate a decent assortment of products and services while they spend most of their time looking for one or two big-ticket auction items. By the time the event rolls around, they are often left with excessive amounts of uninteresting random knick-knacks and not enough charity auction items that their donors will want to bid on. We often get charity organizers who, after asking for donations all year long, worry donors will show up to their big annual fundraising gala or auction without the intention to spend big money. This is commonly referred to as donor fatigue, and can happen when the same repetitive auction items are offered year after year. This can be remedied by working on the quality and variety of your items. Keep in mind when it comes to the auction and raffle, you are offering donors the opportunity to walk away with something. You shouldn't feel guilty about putting desirable items in front of them to buy.

Winspire Winnie participates in Nonprofit Jeopardy By Vicki Blaze on Yahoo Voices TV game shows have been a huge success for many years, dating back to the 1970's and 80's with The Price is Right, Jeopardy, and Family Feud. More recent crazes include Do You Want To Be A Millionaire, Deal or No Deal, and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. All of these game shows have a few things in common - contestants, a host, prizes, challenges, anticipation, and humor. A game show event makes a great fundraiser or simply a school spirit event. Here are some tips to plan an evening where people can laugh out loud with their friends, family, teachers, and principal.

Major Charitable Organizations Partner with Tech Company to "Make Social Networks Their Own" By Social Edison NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- The American Cancer Society, Candie's Foundation, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and more than 40 other nonprofit organizations posed a major challenge to social networkers everywhere - to be more charitable in their online activities, as technology company Social Edisonannounced the official launch of its "Click Your Support" project this week, trailing recent social media advocacy events such as the UN Social Good Summit and Clinton Global Initiative gatherings.

By Mark Hrywna From The Non-Profit Times When disaster strikes these days, lots of donors don’t think twice before whipping out their cell phones and donating $5 or $10 via text message. Vast amounts of money were raised via text when an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, and again this past spring when an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan. But outside of the disasters and the large organizations that collect most of the donations, does text messaging do much for smaller charities? Are you asking yourself whether your charity should be on the mobile bandwagon — or whether it already has missed the boat?